In an effort to revitalize the city’s busiest transport hub, Union Station is getting a $388 million facelift.

The mayor and his crew have planned an underground shopping mall of a massive 12,500 square metres, architectural upgrades and transportation improvements.

While many think any facelift for decaying Union Station is a great idea, the shopping mall idea leaves most skeptical. To be located at basement level, the mall will require costly excavation to accommodate its size and feature claustrophobic low ceilings. Will this actually be somewhere people would want to go and spend their hard earned money? With the increased number of condo developments in the area, and the increasing number of people calling the neighbourhood home, I hope developers plan to include anchor stores like grocers and drugstores. Or, will it end up like another one of those shopping arcades that just serve workers on Bay Street, and only stays open from Monday to Friday, 9-5?

The renovations and expansion have not been fully approved, yet. If it does, the project will take up to 7 years to complete.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 3:35 am and is filed under Neighbourhoods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.